KC homicides are down from last year, but still on pace for second-deadliest year
Homicides in Kansas City are down this year compared to the same point last year. As of Wednesday, the homicide count was at 98, compared to 128 on the same date in 2020.
But the city is still on pace for its second-deadliest year, so the picture remains grim.
In the last five years, the city has recorded three of the highest number of homicides we’ve had since 1993.
Last year, 182 people were killed, the most in the city’s history. And there were 631 nonfatal shootings. As of this week, 334 gunshot victims in Kansas City have survived. There were 396 living victims at the same point one year ago.
In 2017, 155 people were killed. Two years later, 151 people suffered the same fate, according to police data. More people have died this year than at the same time in 2017 and 2019. Before last year, the homicide record of 153 lives lost was set in 1993.
“It is not terribly surprising that the current year is on pace to ‘be one of the deadliest’ simply because this is KC’s trajectory,” said Ken Novak, a professor of criminal justice and criminology at UMKC. “Gun crime has become so normalized in KC over the years that it seems there is a culture of retaliation. Challenging this as normal is important,” Novak said.
Since KC’s historic low in 2014, when killings topped out at 82, gun laws in Missouri have been dramatically relaxed and the way policing is done in Kansas City has changed under Chief Rick Smith’s leadership.
Smith prematurely tabled the department’s previous anti-violence strategy Kansas City No Violence Alliance when he took over as police chief in 2017, and homicides have risen every year but one since.
No one thing can stop the violence. But there are lots of places to start.
The street code of justice must be challenged, criminologists say. Retaliatory violence is related to a lack of faith, trust or perceived fairness in the police, prosecutors and courts.
Restoring confidence in the criminal justice system is needed to discourage retaliation. And collaboration is key. The police, prosecutors and anti-violence advocates all must work together with residents. And strategic evidence-based policing and prosecution are needed.
Reinvestment across a variety of city services, infrastructure, schools and employment opportunities are necessary, experts say. No, investment in public education or fair housing today will not impact the 2021 homicide rate. But it could impact how many people are killed 10 years from now.
